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Have you read a book and are craving to chitchat about it with someone? Have a favorite book that you think everyone would love, if only they knew about it? Want to see what others are reading and have interesting conversations beyond weather, traffic, and real estate?

Then come to the BYOB party and talk away! Try to avoid a bestseller and if you have a copy, bring it along and read us a passage. All languages are welcome.

There will be refreshments and swags courtesy Worth A Read.

Venue: Kedia Arcade Office No. 302, 3rd floor,Door No. 92, Infantry road, Bangalore – 560001

FAQs

So, what really happens at a BYOB Party?

Everyone brings a book and talks about it. Conversations follow and they are good. So are the refreshments!

You can take a look at what happened in some of our earlier parties here:

Do I have to be there for the entire duration of four hours?

We aren’t closing doors or locking you in. But the party is best enjoyed if you are there for the entire duration and listen to people talk about a variety of books. Trust us, you won’t know how time flew.

Do I have to bring anything?

Nothing really. But if you have a copy of the book you want to talk about, you might want to bring it in. Other attendees might want to have a look, or you might want to read a paragraph from it.

I am an author. Can I bring a book written by me?

A good writer should be a voracious reader. It would be preferable if you brought a book you really like written by someone else.

Who are the organizers?

Worth a Read

I have more questions. Who do I contact?

Shoot an e-mail to jayajha@instascribe.com.

Okay! I am ready to come. What do I do?

Join our meetup group, RSVP, and come over!

If you are not on meetup, you can also RSVP on Explara.

Short Book Review: Farthest Field: An Indian Story of Second World War by Raghu Karnad

SBR: Farthest Field talks about Indians in second world war, an aspect of the history that is usually ignored within as well as outside India. Because in India, Indians fighting the war for the British doesn’t fit the national narrative. And outside India, the exploitation of natives in the European war is an uncomfortable subject. But Indians comprised the largest volunteer army in the second world war and the people involved need to be talked about.

My only gripe is an odd mixture of genres in the book. The author set out to write a personal history, for which he didn’t have enough material. He could have written a non-fiction about the role of Indians in the war (which is what the book eventually reads like, but less comprehensive because the author is following his character and not history). A historical fiction on the subject would also have been great.

Of course, it is the author’s prerogative what he chooses to write. But I would love to see a historical fiction on this background. Amitav Ghosh’ The Glass Palace includes this period and this aspect of Indian history, but only on the Eastern front of the war. This book covers Eastern as well as Western fronts.

To read or not to read: Yes because it deals with a most interesting aspect of Indian history.

Article Recommendation: The Fallacy of Success by G. K. Chesterton

Cato the Reader
September 1, 2016
Articles
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The reason I am recommending this excerpt from All Things Considered by G. K. Chesterton is not because it says something that nobody else is saying today. But because he said it over a hundred years ago.

There has appeared in our time a particular class of books and articles which I sincerely and solemnly think may be called the silliest ever known among men. They are much more wild than the wildest romances of chivalry and much more dull than the dullest religious tract. Moreover, the romances of chivalry were at least about chivalry; the religious tracts are about religion. But these things are about nothing; they are about what is called Success.

So it turns out that self-help books and their nothingness are not a malaise that has appeared only recently. And nor is the need to caution people against them particularly modern.

So if you are not convinced against self-help books in modern way and would rather partake some ancient wisdom, read The Fallacy of Success by G. K. Chesterton.

Short Book Review: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

SBR: We should all be feminists is a short book based on a TED talk by the author. It is simply written and effectively tackles all the common objections to feminism. The Nigerian experience of the author will definitely ring a bell for the Indian readers. But western world is no paragon of feminism either and Adichie doesn’t spare them.

If you have said or been told stuff like

Why specifically feminism and gender problem? Why not talk about all human rights issues?
But our culture…
Feminism is no longer needed. I don’t think about gender…

then this book is something you must read.

To read or not to read: Yes. And just because it has “feminists” in title, it doesn’t mean it is to be read by women only. Men also must read it.

Article Recommendation: The Management Myth by Mathew Stewart

Now here is an article that calls a spade a spade. The spade here is management theories and education. Management education started with Frederik Taylor, whose theories have fallen into disrepute and are taught, at best, in “the history of management theory” lessons, but business education that he propagated has continued to prosper and so have continued the rise and fall of management theories.

In the spring of 1908, Taylor met with several Harvard professors, and later that year Harvard opened the first graduate school in the country to offer a master’s degree in business.

Although it is usually the same two concepts that keep coming up in new garbs adorned by new buzzwords.

Between them, Taylor and Mayo carved up the world of management theory. According to my scientific sampling, you can save yourself from reading about 99 percent of all the management literature once you master this dialectic between rationalists and humanists. The Taylorite rationalist says: Be efficient! The Mayo-ist humanist replies: Hey, these are people we’re talking about! And the debate goes on. Ultimately, it’s just another installment in the ongoing saga of reason and passion, of the individual and the group.

And the entire discipline manages to escape any kind of accountability.

The world of management theorists remains exempt from accountability. In my experience, for what it’s worth, consultants monitored the progress of former clients about as diligently as they checked up on ex-spouses (of which there were many). Unless there was some hope of renewing the relationship (or dating a sister company), it was Hasta la vista, baby. And why should they have cared? Consultants’ recommendations have the same semantic properties as campaign promises: it’s almost freakish if they are remembered in the following year.

But don’t MBA programs create those highly paid executives?

Management education confers some benefits that have little to do with either management or education. Like an elaborate tattoo on an aboriginal warrior, an M.B.A. is a way of signaling just how deeply and irrevocably committed you are to a career in management. The degree also provides a tidy hoard of what sociologists call “social capital”—or what the rest of us, notwithstanding the invention of the PalmPilot, call a “Rolodex.”

And

For companies, M.B.A. programs can be a way to outsource recruiting.

Read The Management Myth by Mathew Stewart.

Book Recommendation: The Illicit Happiness of Other People by Manu Joseph

The Illicit Happiness of Other People is melancholy, humorous and philosophical, all at the same time. When I first read the book a few weeks ago, I found the first few chapters a drag. I was, perhaps, wondering why I am being presented with bits and pieces of a decently smart, but an intellectually megalomaniacal teen’s philosophy, which, in its entirety, would most likely be borrowed wisdom that sounds profound, but means nothing. I held on because the writing was good and the dig at the typical middle-class Madrasi’s life* humorous. I am glad I did. I read the initial chapters again recently to see if there were other reasons for finding them such a drag. Surprisingly, I no longer found them so, perhaps because by the time the novel ends, the author ties up many of the threads he introduces in these chapters. So I was discovering a purpose in them now.

The philosophy of Unni Chacko, the dead teenager around whom the plot revolves, won’t help you find the ultimate truth, but it will make you smile, or think or wonder if there is any difference between wisdom and mental illness and what really defines normal vs. delusional.

Ruminate over the following, if you like.

It is the misanthrope alone who has clarity.

Or this.

Truth usually shows humanity in a poor light.

And here is the delusion explained.

The fundamental quality of a delusion is that it is contagious. The very purpose of every delusion is to transmit itself to other brains. This is how a delusion survives. On the other hand, truth can never be transmitted, truth can never travel from one brain to another. Movement is a quality of delusion alone.

In case you are wondering why?

Truth is not consistent. It changes from brain to brain. The truth of every neurological system in unique and it cannot be transmitted. It cannot be told, it cannot be conveyed, it cannot be searched for and found.

And sainthood deflated.

The distinction between a delusion and a lie is the very difference between a successful saint and a fraud.

And if you thought language was the best thing that happened to humankind.

Language was created by nature to guard its secrets, not to reveal them. We are trapped in language. Even thought has become language.

The reference to a wife plotting to kill her blissfully unaware anarchist husband (overstated) in the book description, a cartoon for the cover and the publisher calling it a ‘darkly comic’ story gives an impression of a very different kind of book. You might go in expecting a satire. But that’s not the case. There a dry, dark humor in the book, but it is very different from satire. The overall tone, in fact, in rather pessimistic despite the humor and wit. It is possible to get depressed with the wise pessimism. But you will survive it. Do read the book.

Book Description

Below is the book description from the publisher’s website.

Seventeen-year-old Unni Chacko has done something terrible. The only clue to his action lies in a comic strip he has drawn, which has fallen into the hands of his father Ousep, an anarchist. Ousep begins investigating the extraordinary life of his son, blissfully unaware that his long-suffering wife is plotting to kill him. Set in Madras in 1990, this is a darkly comic story involving the relentless pursuit of a failed writer who has found purpose, an adolescent cartoonist’s dangerous interpretation of truth, the plots of a brilliant housewife, and the pure love of a twelve-year-old boy for a beautiful girl.

Purchase Links

Other Books by the Author

Manu Joseph’s first book Serious Men was widely praised and won multiple awards. I have not read it, but by all indications, it is a satire worth reading.

—

It could have been a dig at the typical middle-class life pretty much anywhere in India, except perhaps Karnataka, where the JEE craze was not there, at least until a decade ago.

Short Book Review: Johnny Gone Down by Karan Bajaj

SBR: Every plot point in Johnny Gone Down is so contrived that I don’t know where to begin describing it. The self-pitying narcissism of the protagonist (which almost feels like a proxy for author’s own feelings) is nerve-grating. We are supposed to sympathize with him, but his renaissance-man-brilliance and the roller-coaster of life have not an iota of reality in it. I don’t mind escaping reality for some entertainment, but there is nothing entertaining about the story either.

To read or not to read: Don’t.

Drive, Revolution and Diplomacy @ BYOB Party in July 2016 (Part 6)

drive Rahul bought along the book by Daniel H.Pink called Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. This fairly recent book is a must read if you want to understand what motivates the person, the student, the child, the employee, etc. Motivation comes across as a very scientific concept. The kind of incentives that work for a twenty something employee would not work for an employee nearing her forties. The author explains how driving factors today include: autonomy, mastery, and a sense of purpose. He peppers the book with examples of companies who are trying newer models to motivate their staff. Rahul recommends this refreshing assessment of very relevant subject matter and told us about the Japanese concept called Ikigai or the reason for being.

the fourth industrial revolution

Ari talked about a brand new book called Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. Schwab talks about the new automated future. The technological revolution of this day and age has led to more and more people losing their jobs to bots. Yet he believes that there is an answer to this conundrum- re-skilling. By re-skilling, human beings have a better chance. Comparisons were made to the computerization of railways and banks in India. At the time, people were threatened by the all pervasive influence of technology. Paranoia when it comes to change is quite common. There was some optimism in the group. While change can be threatening, there are simultaneous checks and balances happening in parallel.

Some, however, felt that scare mongering was valid. In India particularly, the percentage of people who could re-skill is very limited, so succeeding in a digital economy becomes suspect. While in many countries print is dying, in India it thrives, so the Fourth Industrial Revolution has a long way to go, geographically at least.

Aditya Sengupta spoke about a book that he picked up a long time ago called Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb by Strobe Talbott. This non-fiction revolves around the diplomatic events that surrounded a very crucial time in India’s military history. In 1998, three nuclear devices exploded under the Thar Desert. This led to a US-India standoff. Strobe Talbott, the Deputy Secretary of State, and Jaswant Singh, the Ministry of External Affairs, engaged in serious talks for almost two years and this opened a new chapter in Indo-US relations ever since. Aditya found the Indian viewpoint told through the US viewpoint interesting. If you are interested in the Talbott-Singh dialogues, watch this: https://www.c-span.org/video/?195227-1/usindia-relations

With that we wrap up the BYOB Party episodes of July!

Violence, Classics and Nature @ BYOB Party in July 2016 (Part 5)

Anshuman got the renowned book Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Unlike McCarthy’s previous books, this one explores violence with gusto. The story revolves around Kid who is part of a mercenary gang who scalps Indians and sells those scalps. The landscape where the gory masterpiece unfolds is the Texas-Mexico borderlands. McCarthy retains the wildness in the Wild West and removes the romanticism of the idea of the Wild West, probably created to reconcile with the goriness of the past..In fact Anshuman felt that it was a parody of the Wild West. McCarthy goes deep into the theme of violence and he pictures redemption through violence like no author can.

Jeeth brought along a classic historical fiction The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, set in France, in the nineteenth century. The story deals with the classic theme of revenge going wrong. Edmund Dantes has been severely wronged and he longs for retribution. But at what cost? The book has spewed many adaptations on screen and off it.

Meera Iyer got the book Nature in the City by Harini Nagendra. Since we live in Bengaluru, this book is of great relevance to us. We’ve all heard about how beautiful the Garden City once was, but now it’s at the mercy of development and human ambition. Harini Nagendra talks about nature in Bengaluru, something that was once taken for granted but which is now being remembered in its absence. The author effortlessly straddles between history, ecology and sociology of Bengaluru from the seventh century to the present day. She writes about the changing landscape, including its sacred groves, lakes and home gardens. She takes a hitherto unknown look at nature in slums.

Although the author is optimistic about the role of civil society in saving the city, Meera is not completely convinced as the situation requires a radical change of mindset.

More books in Part 5.

Illness and Health @ BYOB Party in July 2016 (Part 4)

There were two contrasting books discussed one after the other. One was a book on cancer and one a book on how to lose weight the healthy way. The literature of the healthy and the sick seems to be quite a talking point.

theemperorof maladies Ajay talked about the Emperor of Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee; this book won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Many readers in the group had read this book as well and found that Mukherjee had done justice to a difficult subject. The book is a chronological account of treatment plans over the centuries and treats cancer as the protagonist, antagonist rather. His book features heroes like his patients, researchers and doctors. So much goes into a disease getting the required amount of funding; unfortunately a certain critical mass of patients is required for adequate spending required to formulate breakthrough treatments. The conversation went on to the ‘whys’ of cancer, including the recent potassium bromate in bread controversy. Mukherjee’s book is optimistic and opens up healthy dialogues about this otherwise stigmatized disease.

dont lose your mind lose your weight Nowadays there is a lot of awareness when it comes to staying healthy and keeping disease away. Megha spoke about a book called Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight by Rujuta Diwekar, expert nutritionist known for her contribution to Kareena Kapoor’s size-zero look in Hindi movie Tashan.

What makes Diwekar’s book so popular is that she encourages you to lose weight without giving up on food. That she is a nutritionist only adds more credibility to her book. Diwekar explodes many myths. For instance, if you eat too much low fat, you end up replacing it with sugar, which is only worse. There is nothing wrong with good old Indian ghee, in moderation, of course. Another observation is about the necessity of sleep and how adequate sleep actually helps to burn calories and lack of sleep can pile on the pounds.

“I don’t understand how such a simple thing as food is now being manipulated by the media. All we need are five to six simple home cooked meals a day. If we eat what our grandmothers did, we would be better off. In fact, we shouldn’t feed our children anything in a commercial. As simple as that,” Megha said. Some criticism of the book was shared, particularly the obsession with healthy food being only Indian.

Abhaya ended the health conversation with two observations:

“India is the second country on earth that spends the largest amount of money on fresh foods.

There is often nothing short of a stampede to buy buy fresh green veggies when they are unloaded in the market.”

This is good news if you live in India. The question is can eating healthy really stave off disease? There doesn’t seem to be a conclusive answer to this, no matter how much literature is out there on the subject.

More books in Part 4.

Worth a Read: Curated Quality Content

Bring Your Own Book (BYOB) Party on Sep 17, 2016 (Saturday)